Stories

Chau’s story

Chau was a seamstress living with her 10-year-old son in a rice farm village in the Mekong Delta. Her son was crippled, and Chau had to give up her trade to take care of him. Her husband is also a tailor working in Saigon, which is about three hours away by bus from their village.

Like most families in the Delta, Chau lived with her in-laws, a practice very common in rural Vietnam. Often the relationship was far from cordial and Chau’s case was no exception. She suffered physical and emotional abuse from her in-laws. Worse, her husband, who only came home once a week, did nothing to defend her. Chau tried her best to submit, but she often ended up fighting back whenever her in-laws hurt her.

But four years ago, Chau came to know about Jesus Christ. She started to experience a transformation in her heart. She did her best to attend all church gatherings. There, she found the love and acceptance she had been longing for in her life. She began attending a women’s class.

The new believer would wait until her in-laws were asleep to sneak to the women’s class. It was hard for Chau to show up on the first few days of the five-day class because of these restrictions. But later on, she managed to wake-up very early in the morning to finish all her house chores, so she could have time for the class.

When Chau attended the module, “To Be like Christ”, she learned much about humility. Since then, Chau became more conscious of showing it whenever she was home. Soon, her in-laws began softening up, and they no longer prevented her from attending the women’s class.

People from her local church started visiting Chau’s in-laws. Because of the changes they saw in Chau, they too wanted to know Christ but were ashamed to ask because of the way they had been treating her. With the way Chau had been growing spiritually, her whole family soon shared the same faith.